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More than 30 members purchased toys from the hospice’s Toys R Us Wish List, which will be used at the new Center for Comfort Care & Healing, opening in January.
“We have a very generous group of people in this association,” said Tammy Lee Dunn, vice president of business development at the John M. Glover Agency and president of the IPCGD. “They all think with their hearts.”
The idea to support the wish list at the insurance organization’s meeting came from Anne DeVestern of Nicholas Tobin Insurance after she saw the list posted on Regional Hospice’s website.
Dunn thought it would be fun to make the whole event a “shower” for Healing Hearts, since everyone was purchasing off a registry. Fellow IPCGD members Sylvia Sterling and Cid Antous helped steer the project, and the idea caught on with the group’s members. Soon, the Community Service Club of New Fairfield also joined in the efforts and also donated a number of items.
Cheryl Koeber, director of counseling services at Regional Hospice, was invited to speak at the meeting and accept the gifts on behalf of Regional Hospice along with Debbie Ryan, vice president of clinical operations. Koeber told the group the story of the “broken pot,” a grief support technique whereby children decorate a ceramic planting pot and then smash it to bits, and then glue it back together again to represent the devastation of loss and how one can heal.
To support the Regional Hospice Wish List, go to toysrus.com/wishlist and enter registry number 35013246.
The Healing Hearts Center for Grief and Loss has received national recognition for its unique bereavement programs and services to the community, including numerous support groups, workshops and programs provided to the public throughout the year. It is a program of Regional Hospice and Home Care.
After serving the Danbury area with nonprofit home hospice care for 30 years, Regional Hospice is proud to announce the opening of a new state-of-the-art Center for Comfort Care & Healing. This family focused hospice center is the state’s first and only private-room facility, designed to serve an estimated 1,000 patients each year. Its mission is to provide exceptional end-of-life care, comfort and compassion to children, adults and their families with a dedicated staff of professionals and a warm, home-like environment. For more information, visit www.RegionalHospiceCT.org.
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